Herbert Smith Freehills
2024/25 Brisbane Vacation Clerkship Program (Nov 2024)
Brisbane
Opportunity expired
Opportunity details
- Internship, Clerkship or Placement
- AUD 75,000 - 80,000 / Year
- 30-35 vacancies
- Apply by 11 Aug 2024
- Start date 19 Nov 2024
Discovering the perfect match for your aspirations is crucial when embarking on your legal journey. Our vacation clerkships offer a unique glimpse into life at Herbert Smith Freehills, a global leader in law, where you'll experience close mentorship, direct client interaction, and the opportunity to contribute to real-world projects, cases, and deals. Many of our graduates have kick-started their careers through these clerkships, making it an excellent opportunity to propel your career forward.
What we can offer
Join us for a part of your summer or winter, and you'll gain a deep understanding of how we meet our clients' needs. Our program is designed to provide practical experience as you dive into diverse and complex matters that are both challenging and rewarding. You'll get a comprehensive introduction to the firm, attend informative sessions on each practice group, and have the chance to contribute to our Digital Legal Delivery and Pro Bono & Citizenship teams.
What we’re looking for
At Herbert Smith Freehills, we believe that exceptional graduates possess both technical excellence and a growth mindset.
We value individuals who bring their best, are curious and who constantly seek to learn and improve from every experience. These graduates embrace challenges, viewing them not as obstacles but as opportunities to stretch their capabilities and achieve outstanding results.
We're looking for people who are proactive, demonstrate an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to make a real impact, fostering strong relationships with clients and colleagues across our global network.
Our inclusive culture
At Herbert Smith Freehills, we strive to foster a diverse, innovative culture where high performance, client focus, and highly engaged individuals set us apart. We celebrate the uniqueness of our people. Our firm comprises individuals with a range of experiences and backgrounds. We strive to ensure that our inclusive environment empowers our people to be their authentic selves at work, feeling valued and able to perform at their best. We understand that our future success hinges not only on being innovative and progressive in the evolving legal market but, most importantly, on our people feeling engaged.
We acknowledge that our people have commitments and personal interests outside of work. We strive to create an agile working environment based on mutual trust and respect, where people can perform at their best while maintaining a sustainable balance between their work and non-work lives.
At Herbert Smith Freehills, we are committed to the inclusion of all individuals participating in the application and interview process. This includes providing tailored accommodations to those who require them. You can request accommodations at each stage of the recruitment process. If you would prefer to discuss beforehand, please reach out to your local Graduate Recruitment Consultant.
Please note:
Applications are open to students who are in their penultimate and final year of their law degree.
We accept applications from international students in their penultimate or final year of their Australian or New Zealand law degree, provided that you have unrestricted legal rights to work in Australia when you commence your clerkship.
HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS. YOUR GROWTH. OUR AMBITION.
Hiring criteria
- No experience required
- Australian Citizen +more
- Law, Legal Studies & Justice
- Bachelor or higher
Reviews
My role has, essentially, been to act as a sponge. Take in as much about the culture of the team and the firm as I do about the law and the work. My day to day responsibilities would include managing email correspondence and document management systems, doing drafting or proofing work, and helping out other Brisbane and interstate teams that are stretched with time intensive work in things like document review.
I am responsible as the junior lawyer on a range of matters that I have worked on since I started the graduate program. This allows me to develop client relationships and familiarity with the subject matter. My tasks include emailing clients updates, responding to client queries, amending contracts based on client or partner feedback and attending client meetings. As I have progressed in the graduate program, my responsibilities have increased at a rate that challenges me and allows me to grow.
Graduate role - tasks range from having a first go at reviewing and drafting documents, preparing pitch proposals to potential clients and assisting the team with document management when closing a deal.
About the employer
Herbert Smith Freehills
4.5
1,000 - 50,000 employees
Law
A leading global law firm delivering high-profile work that matters to our clients. We have the ambition to do things differently.
Pros and cons of working at Herbert Smith Freehills
Pros
Learning from the best. Everyone is super smart and invested in my career development. I have felt incredibly supported from day 1.
HSF has great people, great work, and great experience for anyone who comes here, especially for a graduate like myself.
The firm is really flexible with its work-from-home policy and benefits for employees who are required to work late.
The firm's culture is top-notch across the board, everyone from senior lawyers and partners to support staff are so willing to help each other.
The training and development at HSF is unmatched. Hands-on in a challenging environment where you have every opportunity to learn and grow.
Cons
Same as every top-tier firm, if there is a big deal you can be working longer hours. But the sense of achievement provides a lot of satisfaction.
There isn't anything that I can think of - it would be better if the firm invested more in graduate bonding/social events.
Long hours are a common experience in the industry and largely unavoidable given the client-centric nature of the work.
The fast-paced nature of the work means you don't always get to spend as much time as you would like on tasks.
As with all big commercial firms, work hours and pipeline can be unpredictable but that is the nature of working with big clients and transactions.